Texas Colony

Texas Colony (テキサスコロニー, Tekisasu Koronī) was a neutral territory space colony during the One Year War that served as meeting site between Earth Federation and Zeon personnel. As neutral ground where opposing sides could interact without immediate combat, Texas Colony represented the few spaces where diplomacy and personal meetings could occur amidst total war.

Neutral Status

Texas Colony maintained neutrality during the One Year War:

Not aligned with Federation or Zeon
Provided neutral territory for meetings and exchanges
Allowed civilians from both sides to interact
Served as space where warfare’s normal rules were temporarily suspended

This neutrality was respected by both sides, recognizing the value of having neutral meeting grounds.

Meeting Site

Texas Colony’s neutral status made it useful for:

Unofficial Meetings

Personnel from opposing sides meeting without military engagement
Civilian exchanges and communications
Information sharing outside official channels
Personal meetings between enemies

Prisoner Exchanges

Neutral site for prisoner transfers
Humanitarian exchanges
Medical transfers
Diplomatic contacts

Amuro and Kamaria’s Reunion

Texas Colony was notably the site where Amuro Ray and his mother Kamaria Ray reunited during the war:

The Meeting

Kamaria traveled to Texas Colony hoping to meet her son
Amuro arrived with the White Base
Their reunion highlighted the gulf between soldier and civilian
Kamaria could not understand what Amuro had become through warfare

Failed Communication

Kamaria wanted her innocent son returned to her
Amuro had been fundamentally changed by combat
Neither could bridge the gap war had created
The meeting ended in mutual incomprehension

The Texas Colony reunion demonstrated that even neutral spaces couldn’t heal war’s psychological wounds.

Significance

Texas Colony represented:

Neutral Spaces in War

Recognition that even total wars needed neutral grounds
Possibility of human interaction outside military engagement
Value of spaces where warfare’s rules temporarily didn’t apply
Humanitarian necessity for neutral meeting sites

Limitations of Neutrality

Neutral territory couldn’t heal war’s damage to relationships
Physical safe space didn’t create psychological safety
That some gulfs couldn’t be bridged even without combat
Neutrality’s limits in face of war’s transformative effects

Civilian-Soldier Divide

The colony provided setting for exploring unbridgeable gap
Demonstrated that soldiers couldn’t simply return to pre-war lives
Showed civilians’ incomprehension of combat veterans’ experiences
Emphasized personal costs of warfare

Behind the Scenes

Texas Colony was created for Mobile Suit Gundam as neutral space allowing the significant reunion between Amuro and Kamaria Ray. Director Tomino Yoshiyuki needed neutral territory where this painful meeting could occur outside combat context.

The choice to set this reunion at neutral colony emphasized that even in safe spaces, war’s psychological damage couldn’t be undone – that physical safety didn’t create emotional or psychological safety for those transformed by combat.

The name “Texas Colony” fit with Gundam’s practice of using American place names for space colonies.

Appearances

Mobile Suit Gundam

External links

Texas on the Gundam Wiki